Lovells' former Spanish beau in hunt for new merger

Albiñana & Suarez De Lezo (formerly Melchor de las Heras) has announced that it is back in the market for a merger after talks with Lovells fizzled out last year.
When the Lovells talks finished, the firm announced that it wanted to remain independent, but it has now said that it is open to offers.
"Our position has changed gradually. If a competitive law firm convinces us a merger or association would work, we'd be delighted to look at it tomorrow, " said managing partner Rafael Suarez De Lezo.
Suarez De Lezo denied suggestions that the firm was back in talks with Lovells. However, the two firms are still working together.
Albiñana is an 80-lawyer firm with one of the best corporate practices to be found outside the Spanish magic circle. For this reason, Suarez de Lezo said Albiñana would not want a merger that interfered with its way of working.
"We don't want to be part of a large bureaucratic law firm and have to answer 60 emails a day about conflicts of interest," he stated.